Jodhpur: The mortal remains of Flight Lieutenant Rishi Raj Singh, who died in a crash of a Jaguar fighter plane during a routine sortie near Churu in Rajasthan, were consigned to flames at his ancestral village in the state’s Pali district on Thursday evening amid full military honours and slogans.
Twenty-three-year-old Singh was one of the two Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots who were killed in the crash on Wednesday. He was flying with Squadron Leader Lokendra Singh Sindhu, who hailed from Kheri Sadh village in Haryana’s Rohtak.
Singh’s mortal remains first reached Jodhpur Air Force station from Suratgarh on Thursday afternoon. Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat offered floral tributes at the Air Force station.
From Jodhpur, the mortal remains were taken to Sirohi by a helicopter and then to his village by road, where the entire Khivandi village including family members, relatives, Air Force officers and administrative officials gathered in solemn grief to receive him for the final rites.
For the inconsolable mother and father, it was hard to believe their eyes that the son, for whom they had been searching a suitable match and dreaming of seeing him on horseback in his ‘barat’ (wedding procession), now lay motionless on the pyre amid the flames. Those present called it the “most cruel joke of the Almighty”.
As the news of Singh’s “martyrdom” spread, relatives and villagers began assembling at his village house from Wednesday to console the parents, who are yet to come to terms with the rudest shock.
“He was the pride of our family. With his career firmly in place, we had begun preparing for the next chapter of his life, hoping to see him married within a year or two. But now, everything has come to an end,” said his uncle Hitpal Singh.
Holding “age-old fighter planes” responsible for the loss of pilots, he questioned why such “old machines” are being allowed to be operated at the cost of Indian pilots. He termed the loss both personal as well as national.
According to a family member Pratap Singh, Rishi Raj Singh was fascinated by fighter planes from childhood and always wanted to become a fighter pilot.
“He was brilliant in studies and after completing his schooling from Jodhpur, he appeared in the entrance examination for NDA. After selection, he went on to join NDA in Pune and chose the Air Force to realise his dream to become a flyer,” he said.
Rishi Raj Singh is survived by his father Jaswant Singh, a hotelier; his mother Bhanwar Kanwar, a homemaker; and his younger brother Yuvraj Singh, who is pursuing his senior secondary education in Jodhpur. PTI COR KSS KSS
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